Chapter 1: Ruby Rose
Under the light of the shattered moon, a group of thugs in bright red sunglasses pushed through a crowded street. The people parted for the gang's head: an orange-haired man wearing a pristine white coat with a black cane and bowler hat. The citizens knew him as Roman Torchwick, his reputation preceding him like the smoke of his cigar.
Roman's gang strolled past an intersection facing their destination: a convenience store named 'From Dust Till Dawn'. He entered the building, waltzing up to the counter with his thugs. The cashier balked at the show, trembling.
Roman tapped his cigar out on the glass counter, eyeing the crystals on display while asking, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?"
As soon as he finished, a goon on his left drew a pistol and pointed it at the shopkeeper.
"Please," the old man begged, "just take my lien and leave."
Roman gently shushed the man. "Calm down. We're not here for your money." He turned to his men with an order. "Grab the dust."
The men pulled canisters out of a suitcase, walking up to the shop's dust dispensers on the wall closest to the entrance. With a click, the devices started draining the sand-like material from their glass displays. The meter on each cylinder's front slowly filled with a solid color, representing the type of dust being stolen.
"Crystals," a thug demanded, placing an empty case on the countertop with a glare. The old man started gathering the dust crystals from the display case, his trembling hands only able to carry one at a time.
As another goon went to fill his dust canister from the tubes on the far wall, he heard a muffled rock tune emanating from a girl in red reading a comic by a magazine rack. The hood of her cloak concealed her face.
With a snarl, he dropped the canister and drew his sword, pointing the blade toward her.
"Alright kid, put your hands where I can see them."
The girl didn't react.
"Hey!" he continued, approaching her. "I said hands in the air!"
The thug forcibly turned her around, revealing a set of headphones covering her ears. She had black hair with red tips and a round face.
As she met his glare, the goon pointed to his ears. The girl complied, removing her cowl and headphones with a "Yes?"
"I said put your hands in the air!" the thug repeated, "Now!"
"Are you… robbing me?" she asked.
"Yes!" the thug said, exasperated.
"Huh." She grinned.
With blurring speed, the girl charged the thug, delivering a two-handed uppercut to his chest. The man flew through the store, landing in a heap at the entrance.
Roman, who had been puffing on his cigar at the nearly emptied counter, gave a quizzical look to the fallen man before nodding to another goon. That thug hefted his large pistol, moving to intercept their assailant.
"Freeze!" he shouted, leveling the weapon at her.
With a smirk, the girl hoisted a package of some kind away from her waist. A powerful shot rang through the store as her device flung her forward. Kicking the thug across the room, she carried him and herself through the front window.
Roman and his gang looked past the shattered glass just in time to see a large mechanized scythe unfold. The girl gave a small smile to the criminals before her face hardened. She swung her weapon about effortlessly, embedding the scythe's blade into the asphalt, a thin trail of smoke escaping a rifle barrel at the end of its shaft.
"Okay," Roman said, examining the bizarre girl. He looked at his remaining goons, who were standing about awed.
"Get her," he snapped, and the men rushed out of the building, charging the girl.
The first to reach her missed his sword swing, getting kicked away as the young woman spun on her planted scythe like a gymnast. Using that gathered momentum, she pulled her scythe up, jumping into the fray.
As the henchmen surrounded the girl, she lowered the blade by her heels then fired another round from her weapon, spinning with the recoil. The next goon was slapped by the end of the scythe's shaft, sending him flying.
Coming out of the combat swirl, she connected the scythe's rear to the shoulder of the thug she'd kicked away earlier. A brownish light flashed over his body as he crumpled with a cry of pain.
The last thug hefted a submachine gun, aiming towards the girl. She vanished in a puff of rose petals as he began firing, reappearing across the street.
The man attempted to track her movement, leaving a trail of bullets after the girl as she dodged in a red blur. After a large dash to the other side of the road, she shot forward with her weapon, sweeping the goon's feet with her blade and throwing him into the air.
She planted her scythe as she skidded past him, then spun back around. The blade carved through the street, leaving a divot as she balanced on its shaft and fired again, launching herself and her weapon to meet the falling thug. With a flip, she smacked the goon into the road at Roman's feet.
"You were worth every cent," he said derisively, looking at the defeated henchmen. "Truly, you were."
He faced the girl, who landed with her scythe draped across her back.
"Well, Red," Roman said, dropping his cigar and crushing it with his cane, "I think it's about time you start heading home." Red's defiant gaze met his own. "Wouldn't want to be late for school."
As expected, Red charged Roman after another shot from her scythe. Roman stepped aside, pushing off her incoming blade with his cane and letting her cartwheel past him and into the dust shop. The counter top shattered as she tumbled out of her spin, landing next to the skittish shopkeeper.
Red looked at him and said, "Call the police!" before standing and rushing to the store's entrance, coming face to face with the smiling criminal.
Before he could quip, the girl thrust her weapon into him, the blade arcing to become a war scythe. He stopped the blow with an outstretched hand, a green force wavering across his arm. Roman gave her a menacing smile as he shoved her backward.
"I'll admit," he said, "you've made this an eventful evening."
She stumbled, noting the cowering cashier behind her as she steadied herself. Red pulled on her scythe's shaft, transforming it into a large rifle. Aiming at Roman, she began to unload round after round at the thief.
The man backed out of the store, twirling his cane in front of himself to deflect the incoming bullets. As her magazine went dry, the criminal leveled his cane at the young woman.
"But this," Roman said, "is where we part ways."
A sight popped out from the tip of his weapon, revealing it to be a handheld cannon. Red took a step back as Roman fired his cannon-cane, sending a flare streaking at the store front.
The girl lurched in front of the shopkeeper, spinning her weapon to shield them from the explosive as it connected with the bottom of the door frame. Part of the wall was blasted away, hurling the remains of building material at the store's occupants. The sidewalk and patio were devastated, leaving chunks of cement strewn about the street.
The cashier was fine thanks to Red deflecting the debris, and she was now sitting in the rubble… behind a blonde woman holding a thin riding crop.
Roman blinked, examining the newcomer. She had an hourglass figure, wore glasses and a white blouse with a black pencil skirt over her lower half. Her purple cape billowed as she waved her instrument, causing the rubble around the store to float.
'Damn,' Roman thought, backing away, 'an actual huntress!'
The loose cement formed into a large, jagged spike, which shot for Roman. Acting quickly, he dug out a bright red dust crystal from his coat and hurled it at the spear. The crystal stuck to the weapon as Roman fired his cannon at it, all while running down the street he came from.
The cement spear exploded, leaving behind a large cloud of smoke and dust. The huntress waved her crop, dropping additional debris while causing the gray cloud to waver and flatten. The smoke was cleared the next moment, but the crime boss was nowhere to be seen.
"You're a huntress!" The girl in red said, looking up at her savior. "Oh my gosh; a real huntress!"
Even as the lady turned to her with a stern look, the child had sparkles in her eyes as she asked, "Can I have your autograph?"
"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady!" the woman scolded the red-clad girl, pacing around an interview room at the local police station. "You put yourself and others in great danger!"
"They started it!" she protested, but her savior ignored the outburst.
"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home," the huntress continued. She paused in front of the open doorway, sparing a brief look at her charge. "With a pat on the back..."
The girl straightened up, smiling.
"And a slap on the wrist!" she finished, emphasizing her point by bringing her riding crop down on the table, causing the girl to jump.
"But," the woman said, her tone becoming more reserved, "There is someone here who would like to meet you."
She walked past the entrance, allowing a man with silver hair to enter. He was dressed in black with a green scarf around his neck. He used a cane in one hand and held a plate of small cookies in the other.
"Ruby Rose," he called, meeting the girl's face.
"You…" he trailed off, leaning in to examine her carefully. "...have silver eyes."
"Uh, um…" Ruby said, put off by the man, who jumped back and began speaking again.
"So, where did you learn to do this?" he motioned to a screen the huntress held up, showing footage of Ruby's fight.
"Si- Signal Academy," Ruby said sheepishly, still staring at the man.
He raised an eyebrow. "They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well, one teacher in particular," Ruby said.
"I see," he said, placing the plate on the table in front of Ruby.
Hesitantly, Ruby picked up one of the small cookies. They were a chocolate chip variety, placed on a platter for presentation. She stuffed one in her mouth, quickly crunching it, then began shoveling the cookies in one after another.
"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before," the cookie man mused. "A dusty old crow."
"Mhmm," Ruby tried speaking through her cookies. "Tha's ma uncle…"
She swallowed, gasped, and began again, "Sorry! That's my uncle, Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal.
"I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like hoowaa! Witchaa! Waa!" Ruby started making chopping motions with her arms and hands in a childish rendition of martial arts.
"So I've noticed," the man said with a coy smile. Resting his cane against the table, he sat in front of Ruby and steepled his fingers. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well," Ruby's tone became more serious. "I want to be a huntress."
"You want to slay monsters?" the man asked.
"Yeah," Ruby said, smiling. "I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See, my sister's starting there this year and she's trying to become a huntress, 'nd I'm trying to become a huntress, cause I want to help people. Our parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, eh-meh-might as well make a career out of it."
She chuckled before continuing, "I mean, the police are alright, but hunters and huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting, cool and-" Ruby let out an exhilarated noise before cooling down with a "Ya know?"
The stern lady looked at her nonplussed before the man asked Ruby, "Do you know who I am?"
"You're Professor Ozpin," Ruby answered. "You're the headmaster at Beacon."
Ozpin then greeted Ruby with an out of place "Hello."
"Nice to meet you," Ruby said politely.
"You want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked in a serious tone, dropping his hands to the table.
"More than anything," Ruby said, her voice strained with longing.
Ozpin looked to the huntress, who looked away with a grunt.
He looked back to Ruby, and nonchalantly said, "Well, ok."
"Oooh, I can't believe my baby sister's going to Beacon with me!" a bombastic blonde-haired girl squeezed Ruby in an overbearing hug. "This is the best day ever!"
"Yang, please," Ruby struggled against her sister's hold, her voice coming out in a rasp.
The two of them were in an airship, heading to Beacon's airport with a large contingent of other first year students. The space wasn't too crowded, though most students were gathered around either a holographic display or the room-spanning windows.
"But I'm so proud of you!" Yang let go of Ruby, bouncing away.
"Really, sis," Ruby insisted. "It's nothing."
"What do you mean? It was incredible!" Yang said, beaming. "You took on the Roman Torchwick last night! Everyone at Beacon's gonna think you're the bee's knees!"
"I don't want to be the 'bee's knees', okay!" Ruby said, her voice growing worried. "I don't want to be any kind of 'knees'! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."
"What's with you?" Yang asked, her arms drooping. "Aren't you excited?"
"Of course I'm excited, I just…" Ruby took a breath to calm her nerves. "I got moved ahead two years, Yang; skipped two years of training. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything." She folded her arms and started studying the carpet.
Yang moved around Ruby to give her a gentle side hug, keeping her eyes on her sister's face as she assured her, "But you are special."
She walked Ruby up to the window, gesturing at a sprawling urban landscape.
"By the end of school, the two of us will be the best huntsmen in all of Vale," Yang said, pulling Ruby closer. "You just need a little confidence, that's all."
Ruby looked down at the passing city, then glanced up at the horizon. She spotted an island a short ways from the coast: Patch, the place she and Yang were born and raised. She could also see the tower of her old academy, Signal.
Ruby smiled a little, musing, "I guess home isn't so far away after all."
Following her sister's gaze, Yang patted Ruby's shoulder and said, "Beacon is our home now." She pointed in the direction the ship was traveling, shifting Ruby's gaze.
At a cliff's edge, far above the waves, a cluster of towers appeared, with the tallest emitting a brilliant green light out for miles. From the great distance their ship was at, the whole campus looked lustrous, shining a brilliant white against a backdrop of green and blue.
Ruby gaped at the sight while Yang smiled.
"Yeah, it's not-" a voice from beside them faltered. "It's not called Beacon for nothing."
The sisters turned, seeing a blonde boy wearing a black hoodie with a white chest-piece strapped over it. He was no longer facing them, having doubled over and clutched his stomach.
"Excuse me," he said, wandering past them while holding his mouth.
"Guess the view's not for everyone," Yang said, wincing as the boy retched in the far corner of the ship.
"It was a nice moment while it lasted," Ruby said, sharing a smile with her sister.